how to avoid the fiscal cliff. the two sides traded charges of bad faith as year-end tax hikes and spending cuts moved another day closer. on the face of it there seemed to be little movement today. >> no substantive progress has been made in the talks between the white house and the house over the last two weeks. >> sreenivasan: treasury secretary timothy geithner and legislative chief rob nabors arrived at the capitol this morning, for meetings with congressional leaders. house speaker john boehner also spoke to president obama on the phone last night. he said he wanted to know where the administration would rein in spending, but that he had heard nothing new. >> i was hopeful we'd see a specific plan for cutting spending. we sought to find out today what the president is really willing to do. listen, i remain hopeful that productive conversations in the days ahead can be had but the white house has to get serious. >> sreenivasan: senate minority leader mitch mcconnell echoed that complaint. in a statement, he sa